The Kentucky Derby is always the first Saturday in May. The 2025 Run for the Roses will be the 151st greatest two minutes in sports. All eyes are on Journalism; this is not fake news.
Secretariat
It has been 52 years since Secretariat made history by winning the 1973 Kentucky Derby in a record-setting time of 1:59.40. Nicknamed, Big Red for his chestnut color, Secretariat still holds the fastest time of any other horse to ever win the Derby. (Secretariat also still holds the fastest time for the other two legs of the Triple Crown- the Preakness and the Belmont.)
As the greatest racehorse of all time, Secretariat’s bloodline is still alive and prominent in American horse racing. He sired more than 600 foals during his retirement. Which brings us to the 2025 Derby where every horse in the Run for the Roses has Secretariat in his pedigree. While we may never see a winning racehorse with so much talent and personality as Big Red, his bloodline will produce another Derby winner this year.
Post position
Journalism is the favorite and starting in the 8th post position. With a field of 20 horses, there is a 5% chance of each horse winning. But then you factor in post position and those percentages change. Some stats from the Kentucky Derby website: eight of the last 14 winners (57%) started from post 13 or wider. Will we see another winner break from the outside? Post 20 has the co-highest win percentage (10.5%) of any post position. According to math, post five ranks among the best positions a horse can hope to draw. Post five has produced the most winners (10), the most runner-up (eight, tied with post three and post six), and the co-highest win percentage (10.5%). Post five has also produced a top-five finisher in every Kentucky Derby from 2012 through 2019. But not all outside post positions are something to cheer about. Post 14 hasn’t produced a Derby winner since Carry Back in 1961. Horses breaking from post 17 have gone 0-for-44.
Trainers
Bob Baffert is one of the most successful and well-known trainers in the history of horse racing.
I guess when you train two Triple Crown winners: American Pharoah (2015) and Justify (2018) and have won the Derby six times you become pretty popular. Add in eight wins at the Preakness and three wins at the Belmont and anyone who watches sports knows the connection to Bob and horse racing. But Baffert has also been the subject of controversy for basically horse doping. Baffert was suspended for the last three years and now makes his return with Citizen Bull.
Then you have trainers like Lonnie Briley, a 72-year-old trainer to Coal Battle who has never won the Derby. And don’t forget about D. Wayne Lukas, an 89-year-old trainer to American Promise who has four Derby wins and is the oldest trainer to win (Seize the Gray in 2024).
Saturday in the South
The pageantry, the fashion, the hats, the bourbon, the celebrities, the private planes, and the betting. Talk about Saturday in the south when there is no football. Tune in to NBC Saturday for full Derby coverage at 2:30 with the main race set to start at 6:57p.m. at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky.
*Rodriguez and Grande have been scratched. Baeza will be added the 21st post position.
You can help keep the posts coming! Donate any amount, I would really appreciate your support! https://alisonstclair.com/donate/